Tuesday, October 11, 2011

German TV ZDF's "Frontal 21" features Japan's nuclear disaster on a regular basis, and here's the latest from October 4, 2011. The reporters interviewed Fukushima plant workers, whose remarks coincide with what the Fuku-1 Livecam finger-pointing worker has said - that they are kept ignorant of the radiation danger.

They also interviewed Dr. Eisuke Matsui of Gifu Environmental Medicine Research Institute, who talked about potential damage from radiation on the workers at the plant.

They also went to the TEPCO headquarters in Tokyo to ask about the unfair contract that the workers receive (if at all) for their work at Fukushima I Nuke Plant. A junior manager (if that) met them, only to tell them it was none of the TEPCO's problem. It's subcontractors' problem, of course.

The program concludes with these words:

Workers, who for a pittance do the dangerous dirty work at the atomic ruins,An employer who steals away from his responsibility,Doctors who recommend smiling as protection against radiation damage.

Translation of the Frontal 21 segment into English was done by Viola, who also regularly posts comments on this blog. Thank you. Her Youtube channel has many Fukushima-related videos in English and German.

(If you do not see the subtitle, click on the "cc" button.)

In case you missed it, France 24 also had an excellent report on Fukushima workers, which I posted here.

I myself prefer the France24 report, to be honest. But it's only today that I found an access for translating it into german, so it will take some days to upload it.

I also was very astonished when I found out more about Mr. Matsui. Looking at the video, he just seems to be an "ordinary" radiologist, but obviously he's much more. He supervieses the Say-Peace project that you can find explained here:http://japanfocus.org/-Say_Peace-Project/3549

Looks as he's one of the rare true specialists who fits the definition of Prof. Kodama.I wished their voices would have a profounder echo in Japan...

These reports are okay, but they miss the point entirely: that the response of the japanese society as a whole to this crisis is worsening an already dramatic situation.

I saw Barefoot Gen (はだしのゲン, Hadashi no Gen) just a while ago. It is kind of shocking that the japanese society in the 21st century is behaving exactly like it did in wartime, under a fascist regime.

1945: “what, you say that Japan can’t win the war! Traitor! I won’t give any food rations to you!”

2011: “what, you say that our part of Japan is infested by radiation and that we (anyone in a position of authority – school directors, local officials, national government) must do something about it to protect everyone? I will make your children crawl in the dirt and eat the food you don’t want them to eat!”

This whole situation will make great movies 20 years from now but, by then, it will be too late.

About my coverage of Japan Earthquake of March 11

I am Japanese, and I not only read Japanese news sources for information on earthquake and the Fukushima Nuke Plant but also watch press conferences via the Internet when I can and summarize my findings, adding my observations.

About This Site

Well, this was, until March 11, 2011. Now it is taken over by the events in Japan, first earthquake and tsunami but quickly by the nuke reactor accident. It continues to be a one-person (me) blog, and I haven't even managed to update the sidebars after 5 months... Thanks for coming, spread the word.------------------This is an aggregator site of blogs coming out of SKF (double-short financials ETF) message board at Yahoo.

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